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What’s on FEBRUARY

Collabro will be back on the road next month for their biggest ever tour and have announced some very special guests joining them across the UK. West End and Broadway Star Kerry Ellis and BBC1’s Over the Rainbow Finalist and We Will Rock You Star Lauren Samuels will be joining the boys on selected dates.

Collabro, the world’s most successful musical theatre group, met in 2014 for their first rehearsal at a London pub, just a month later went on to rouse the whole of Hammersmith Apollo into a standing ovation during their first ever public performance of ‘Stars’ for the Britain’s Got Talent judges.

Since winning Britain’s Got Talent four years ago with one of the biggest majorities ever Collabro have released a Number 1 debut album “Stars”, followed by “Act Two” which peaked at Number 2, performed at the Royal Variety Performance; been voted ‘The Nation’s Favourite BGT Winner’ and are now enormously successful internationally. Notably, they have performed for over 30 million people in Japan on Music Station on two separate occasions – receiving a Gold Disc for Best International Artist alongside Sam Smith and Meghan Trainor. They have also completed two tours of America and signed a major US record deal.

2018 has already seen Collabro embark on a sold-out tour of Asia, performed as special guests on Barry Manilow’s UK Arena Tour and release their fourth studio album ‘Road To The Royal Albert Hall’ for more information go to Officialcollabro.com.

The musical theatre group’s ‘Road to the Royal Albert Hall’ Tour will be kicking off at South Shields Customs House on February 10th and will see the group perform at a variety of intimate theatres and iconic venues over three months, before finishing the tour at the world renowned Royal Albert Hall in London. Collabro will also have Youth Choirs to accompany them at each venue of their 51 date UK Tour alongside support Georgia and The Vintage Youth.

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Townsend Theatre Productions has announced the world premiere of its new show “Rouse, Ye Women!”

This groundbreaking folk opera tells the true story of Mary Macarthur and the women chainmakers and features original songs and music composed by revered folk musician John Kirkpatrick (Steeleye Span, Home Service, Richard Thompson Band).

The role of trade unionist and strike leader Mary Macarthur will be performed by Scottish folk singer Bryony Purdue. Purdue is an outstandingly versatile and charismatic performer and has sung with UK Opera companies Opera GlassWorks, Longborough Festival Opera and touring ensembles VoxCollective and Transatlantic Ensemble.

Folk singer Rowan Godel will play chainmaker Bird. Godel is a rising star in the music world and has worked extensively with some of the biggest names in folk, including Oysterband (duetting with John Jones on Street of Dreams, Spirit of Dust and more ), The Levellers and Ray Cooper.

Women chainmakers in the Black Country in the 1900s started work at the forge as children and spent their entire lives making chains. These women had no vote, were largely illiterate, worked a 54-hour week for ‘starvation wages’, and had to take their children to work.

But in the Autumn of 1910 hundreds of women chainmakers of Cradley Heath held a ten-week strike against their employers. Led by the remarkable trade union organiser and campaigner Mary Macarthur, they won a minimum wage which doubled their incomes.

More importantly, they returned to work confident in the knowledge that by sticking together in a union they could stand up to the chain masters and companies.

The strike was a prelude to the ‘Great Unrest’ of industrial action that swept Britain in 1911, and led to a landmark victory for a fair wage, changing the lives of thousands of workers, whilst proving their economic power.

‘Rouse, Ye Women!’ is a folk-song opera that tells the story of Mary Macarthur and the chainmakers, and shares the story of the lives of the workers and campaigners through rousing, heartfelt traditional song and music.

Director Louise Townsend said: “The focus of the production is not just the massive achievement of the women chainmakers in their fight for better wages, but also how Mary Macarthur and the National Federation of Women Workers, of which she was a founding member, sought to challenge the prevailing view that women made poor trade unionists, were a threat to male employment and wages, and were generally unorganisable.

“Mary Macarthur herself wanted trade unions to educate women workers to be better citizens, empower them to demand more from life and gain fair treatment as workers; to ensure that women can be an effective force within the trade union movement to strengthen the position of the entire industrial working class.

“Through this production we will aim to draw parallels with the inequalities in the lives of women just over a hundred years ago with modern issues of family life, low pay, the minimum wage, the gender pay gap and equality of opportunity.”

Writer, actor and musician Neil Gore said: “The story is truly inspirational because it centres on the energy and drive of Mary Macarthur, and her skills as an organiser and tactician. She came to be admired by her trade union and socialist comrades as well as those in positions of power – employers, business leaders and those in government. But, most importantly, she gained the trust of those women workers that she so skilfully organised and represented. She lived a thrilling, breathless life sustained with unfaltering courage and determination to achieve; she was cool and persuasive in argument and possessed immense good-humour and common-sense. Through this production we aim to celebrate her enormous achievements and her all-too-often overlooked legacy.”

John Kirkpatrick said: “The songs and music for “Rouse Ye Women!” are inspired in large part by traditional industrial folk song, music hall, and protest songs, as well as from projects created within the folk revival period of the 1960s and 70s, themselves based on direct links with traditional music of the past, with a modern, contemporary twist. Industrial folk song originally emerged in Britain in the 18th century from the Industrial Revolution. These workers tended to take the forms of music with which they were familiar, ballads and agricultural work songs, and adapt them to their new experiences and circumstances. They tended to be descriptive of work, often political in nature, and were sung between work shifts or in leisure, expressing workers’ interests and aspirations, and passed on among themselves by oral means.

“Other influences would come from popular and musical hall songs as well as formal hymns that had been adopted by the workers. The various types of song include chants of labour and protest including narratives of disasters, laments for conditions and political strike ballads. Amongst these are also songs about heroic and mythical figures of industrial work.

“There was a great tradition for women to sing at work in the big factories and the back-yard forges, especially music hall songs; their strong melodies and clear narratives having a wide appeal: “They can’t stop us singing! It’s a way of getting rid of the boredom”, as one worker once put it.

“Through the description and poetry or wit and wisdom of songs from this time, one can gain a feel for the hardships and pleasures; the day-to-day struggle for existence, as well as the ways of breaking the monotony of work with descriptions of local events and incidents, or through after-work collective relaxation.

“Through new rousing songs and moving ballads we aim to tell the story of the Women Chainmakers’ Strike by reflecting, imitating and embellishing the styles of music that were most significant to those who struggled to make the strike a success.”

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From internationally renowned soloists to passionate, political operas, a journey through Shakespeare’s classics and one of the most acclaimed musicals of our time, the New Year bursts into life with an exciting season of performance at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

Scotland’s national conservatoire raises the curtain on more than 100 events between January and March with bold, creative programming which showcases the artistry of its students, staff and a glittering array of visiting artists.

Among the artistic highlights awaiting Royal Conservatoire audiences is a laugh-out-loud opera double bill featuring Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi and Poulenc’s Les Mamelles de Tirésias, two standout productions which exude robust humour at almost every turn while shining a light on greed, debauchery and timely issues like the empowerment of women.

Sheku Kanneh-Mason is one of the brightest stars in the classical music scene, having played to an audience of millions at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. The former BBC Young Musician of the Year opens the BBC Radio 3 and RCS Cello Festival. Meanwhile, innovation is at the heart of Into the New which sees Contemporary Performance Practice students challenge perceptions, personal and creative boundaries during this striking festival of devised work.

Consistently ranked in the world’s top ten institutions for performing arts education (QS Rankings 2016-2018), the Royal Conservatoire is also a busy arts venue, hosting more than 600 public performances each year.

Highlights of the new season include:

Opera double bills: Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi and Poulenc’s Les Mamelles de Tirésias are two of the most side-splitting operas in the repertoire.

Gianni Schicchi is the last opera Puccini completed, a dark comedy focusing on a family’s attempts to get hold of a dead relative’s money after it transpires his wealth has been left to a monastery. The family turns to Gianni Schicchi for help but things do not go as planned in Puccini’s opera, which includes one of the most famous arias of all time in O mio babbino caro.

Poulenc’s Les Mamelles de Tirésias tells of the wife who changes sex in order to obtain power among men. Bored of her life as a housewife, Thérèse transforms into a man and embarks on the life and career she craves. Her husband, meanwhile, finds a way to bear children without women and manufactures 40,049 babies in one day. Though comic in nature, the opera explores serious themes like the empowerment of women and the need to repopulate a country after it has been ravaged by war.

Dido and Aeneas and Trouble in Tahiti follow in March, telling stories of regal love and a well-off, suburban couple who become inexplicably alienated from each other well before the age of social media.

Malcolm Martineau: A Life in Song: The longstanding partnership between Scotland’s national conservatoire and BBC Radio 3 enables RCS to bring world-renowned artists like Malcolm Martineau to the city. The celebrated pianist is joined by leading performers including tenor Nicky Spence, soprano Sally Matthews and internationally renowned baritone Thomas Oliemans in this series, supported by the Hilary Rosin Coffee Concerts.

Cello Festival: The Royal Conservatoire welcomes chart-topping cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason to open the BBC Radio 3 and RCS Cello Festival. Sheku, who provided the soundtrack to the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in front of millions of people all over the world, is playing a key role in reaching new audiences for classical music. In demand with leading orchestras and concert halls worldwide, he is joined by Brazilian Antônio Meneses, award-winning Russian performer Anastasia Kobekina, one of Britain’s finest young string ensembles, the Maxwell Quartet, and principal cellist of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Philip Higham.

Into the New: March sees the return of one of the most important contemporary performance festivals in Scotland. Into the New explores radical practice and identity through intimacy, memory and immersion. The 2019 festival showcases nine individual performances, all produced by students at Scotland’s national conservatoire.

Piano Festival: Celebrating ten years in 2019, the RCS Piano Festival engages world class artists, commissioning new works for multiple piano ensembles while creating exciting interdisciplinary collaborations showcasing the extraordinary talents of the RCS keyboard department.

Drama: A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Shakespeare’s story of illusion, mischief and transformation, celebrating the creative and often destructive power of love. BA Acting students take centre stage in this production, directed by Ali de Souza.

Musical Theatre: Sunday in the Park with George: Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s soaring masterpiece merges past and present into poignant truths about love, passion and the creation of art. The production is set in the days running up to the completion of a painting. Painter George is struggling to find his artistic voice and maintain a relationship. A century later, his descendant (also George) is burnt out and in search of an artistic path – finding the answer not in the present, but the past.

Talks: Arts in Justice lecturer Jess Thorpe explores the potential of devised theatre as a radical act of community and a vehicle for dialogue and connection in the context of incarceration.

Professor Jeffrey Sharkey, Principal of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, said: “With a new year comes an exciting new season of performance at Scotland’s national conservatoire.

“I look forward to welcoming you to support our emerging professionals as they take to the stage, honing their artistic practice as they prepare to become the next generation of leaders in the performing and production arts.”

The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland is committed to making its performances accessible to as many people as possible with shows that are relaxed, captioned, British Sign Language interpreted and audio described. For D/deaf and hard of hearing patrons, the Deaf Theatre Club offers tickets for any accessible performance for £5. Concession prices are available and the Tickets26 initiative gives those under 26 access to any performance for just £5 (conditions apply).

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Fuel open Tron Theatre’s main house season this Spring with The Dark (15 & 16 Feb), the harrowing and uplifting autobiographical story of poet Nick Makoha’s migration with his mother at the age of four to escape a country divided by dictatorship and consumed by conflict.

‘Night is not the only darkness. Nick takes a breath as he tries to remember.’ Fragments of a forgotten journey flicker in front of his eyes. It is night, November 1978. He is four years old. He is holding his mother’s hand as they wait on the escarpment. They are leaving Kampala. Buying safe passage and silence with all they have, they travel by matatu and the conductor asks no questions. Their companions are the missing, lost and displaced. Those who have suffered eight long years under the rule of Idi Amin.

Two performers, Akiya Henry and Michael Balogun play multiple characters in this exploration of memory directed by the award-winning Roy Alexander Weise (Nine Night) and The Dark is a co-commission by Fuel and Ovalhouse as part of their First Bites series.

Fuel Director, Kate McGrath said:
Brilliant artists create a space for a temporary community to come together and seek to understand and to imagine. Fuel’s job is to identify those living artists and bring their urgent and brave work to life for people to experience. Our 2019 season, which includes Nick Makoha’s The Dark, celebrates our common humanity: how we all connect to the earth and to each other.

What’s Love Got To Do With It? is presented by live music and theatre promoters Cuffe and Taylor. Director of Theatre Touring, Ben Hatton said: “We can’t wait for What’s Love Got To Do With It? to hit the stage across the UK in 2019 and 2020.

“This new clip of the show is a great teaser showing just how fantastic Elesha and the cast will be. We think she’s Simply The Best, and you will too.”

In this brand-new touring theatre show, audiences can expect a night of high energy, feel-good rock-and-roll featuring Tina’s greatest hits performed by the amazing vocal talent of EleshaPaulMoses (Whitney – Queen Of The Night, The Voice, X Factor) supported by a full 10-piece live band.

Speaking about playing Tina Turner, Elesha said: “I am absolutely thrilled to be touring the UK with What’s Love Got To Do With It? This is going to be a magnificent show and one that truly celebrates the incredible music and career of Tina Turner.

“Tina is a great persona to emulate on stage. I have performed as her many times over the years so to now be the lead in a show that will travel all over the UK and celebrate everything about her is an amazing opportunity and one I’m really looking forward to.”

In a breath-taking career spanning more than 50 years, audiences can look forward to hearing stunning musical arrangements of Tina’s most-loved classic hits including Private Dancer, What’s Love Got To Do With It?, Proud Mary, River Deep, Nutbush City Limits, Simply The Best and many more. This not-to-be missed musical experience is a stunning celebration of one of the greatest female singers of our time.

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Finalists in BBC One’s Even Better Than the Real Thing, officially voted the UK’s number one Little Mix tribute act in last year’s National Tribute Music Awards, Glasgow’s Little Fix are coming to town. . .

Since winning TV’s The X Factor Little Mix have become the biggest girl group on the planet – topping the charts with Black Magic, Shout Out to My Ex, Wings and Cannonball among their 20 million-selling hits that also include Power, Woman Like Me, Move, Only You, DNA, Love Me Like You, Touch, Change Your Life, How Ya Doin’, Little Me and Reggaeton Lento.

Show promoter David Halford of Artistes International Management says that Little Fix deliver a high energy show that replicates the energy, stage presence and vocal abilities of the original group. “With stunning stage outfits to match,” he says. “Little Fix power through all of Little Mix’s biggest hits with identical choreography and vocal finesse that puts ‘Girl Power’ firmly back on the agenda.”

Since their TV success, Little Fix have toured the UK bringing the greatest hits of Little Mix alive on stage while Little Mix themselves have lined up a number of arena shows .

“With Little Mix not set to tour until late autumn next year,” says David, “why wait to get your fix of Little Mix, catch Little Fix at your local theatre in the coming weeks.”

Tickets for the weekend afternoon show are available from the venue box office.

Best-selling recording artist and concert performer, Richard Clayderman, will present his only 2019 UK show at the Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow, on Thursday, February 28. at 7.30pm

Marking the 40th anniversary of his music career, the French pianist has insisted that he is accompanied by a string section from Glasgow for the extra-special show, says show promoter David Halford.

“With album sales in excess of 150 million and with 267 gold and 70 platinum albums to his name, no wonder he has been crowned the most popular pianist in the world,” says David.

Richard Clayderman himself says: “For my concert in Glasgow, I will perform a good selection of my original titles as well as lots of romantic themes and film classics.

“I look forward to meeting all my fans at the Royal Concert Hall as they are true connoisseurs and we all share the same emotions and sensations.”

Richard’s distinctive piano style has seen him record more than 1, 200 melodies and, in the words of a German journalist, “he has arguably done more to popularise the piano around the world than anyone since Beethoven”.

“The Prince of Romance” (as he was dubbed by Nancy Reagan) was born Philippe Pagès. His father, a piano teacher, began teaching him how to play at a very young age. It is said that, at the age of six, Richard Clayderman could read music more adeptly than his native French.

When he was 12 years old he was accepted at the Conservatoire of Music where, at 16, he won first prize. He was predicted a promising career as a classical pianist. However, shortly after this, and much to everyone’s surprise, he cast aside his classical training and turned to contemporary music.

“I wanted to do something different,” Richard says, “So, with some friends, I created a rock group; it was a tough time, a hard time and the little money we could make was devoted to buying equipment. In fact, I used to feed myself so badly – mainly on sandwiches – that I had to have an operation for an ulcer when I was only 17.”

In order to earn a living, Clayderman found work as an accompanist and session musician. “I enjoyed it”, he says, “and it paid well at the same time. That is how I drew away from classical music, although it gave me a strong basis for what I do now.”

His talent did not go unnoticed and he soon became much in demand as an accompanist to such major French stars as Michel Sardou, Thierry LeLuron and Johnny Halliday.

His life changed dramatically in 1976 when he received a telephone call from Olivier Toussaint, a well-known French record producer, who, with his partner, Paul de Senneville, was looking for a pianist to record a gentle piano ballad. Paul had composed this ballad as a tribute to his new born daughter Adeline.

Philippe Pagès’ name was changed to Richard Clayderman (he adopted his great-grandmother’s last name to avoid mispronunciation of his real name outside France), and the single took off, selling an astonishing 22 million copies in 38 countries. It was called “Ballade pour Adeline”.

“When I signed him”, says Olivier Toussaint, “I told him that if we sell 10,000 singles it will be marvellous, because it was disco at that time and we could not bet on such a ballad being a winner. We could not imagine that it would be so big.”

It was the start of what has become an outstanding success story, and since that time, Richard Clayderman’s distinctive piano style has earned him superstar status all over the world.

Following critical acclaim for The Wipers Times, Ian Hislop and Nick Newman have once again taken inspiration from real life events for their new play Trial by Laughter.

William Hone, the forgotten hero of free speech, was a bookseller, publisher and satirist. In 1817, he stood trial for ‘impious blasphemy and seditious libel’. The only crime he had committed was to be funny. Worse than that he was funny by parodying religious texts. And worst of all, he was funny about the despotic government and the libidinous monarchy.